Most of the stories for the Big East Media Day will be in tomorrow’s paper, because that’s the way the news cycle used to be. Some are ahead of the curve.

The AP, of course, already has its summary. And it’s all WVU, so let’s just move on.

The Louisville beat writer for the Courier-Journal, already has his piece up. The oh-so subtle angle, to promote a L-ville-WVU rivalry.

Yesterday, the majority of the focus clearly was on U of L and West Virginia. Both expect to be nationally ranked in preseason polls. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese pointed to a budding rivalry between the Cardinals and Mountaineers as a promising development for the league.

The teams staged a triple-overtime thriller in Morgantown last season, with the Mountaineers winning 46-44 after erasing a 24-7 third-quarter deficit. Both coaches called that game a good start. They meet this year on Nov. 2 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

“It’s not a rivalry yet, but it’s going to get there,” Rodriguez said. “When you start playing and it’s a game like we had and it’s triple overtime, then it accelerates the process. For us, the Pitt game, the backyard brawl is the No. 1 rivalry. And people are talking about our game with Marshall being a rivalry. But the Louisville game will probably become a rivalry much quicker.”

The advent of blogs and reporters has been a boon to transparency as they cop more often to getting the good grub.

Well, sure, last night I was at a free clam bake at the Eisenhower House in Fort Adams National Park outside Newport. All the lobster, chicken, steamed clams, corn on the cob, mussels, etc., you can eat. It’s tough, but we do what we have to do to get the news, you know? (And, if it makes anyone feel any better, I counted 17 mosquito bites on my forearms alone.)

And nothing like a nice setting to cushion the blow of being in Syracuse and covering the unanimous pick for the bottom of the conference.

The Big East video snippet interviews are up (Windows Media. If the direct link doesn’t work, go to the Media Day site and click “Video.”).

Coach Wannstedt is interviewed at the 6:30 mark. The off-camera (and sound) question he is asked is about Palko. Coach Wannstedt said it was Palko’s team. He was effusive in his praise for how he prepared and put in so much work during the offseason. The second question was about his expectations for the season. Here, it was a little interesting because Coach Wannstedt hedged sharply. He essentially said that while he wants to say winning the Big East, that would be getting ahead of things. Right now, the team can only take it one game at a time and see where things go. It definitely seemed that he was trying to balance the goals versus the expectations. I don’t think overconfidence by the coach will be an issue.

Tyler Palko was the only Pitt player on the interview. He was at about 7:45. He talked about dealing with adversity. That part of the problem last year was that the team didn’t handle adversity well, that it let them get to them. The team has to handle things better. Palko also stressed that winning was far more important than any individual stats. He just wants to win the game and he doesn’t care how or what his stat line looks like.

46 days and 2 plus hours until kickoff against UVa.

Man, I hope they have more than just these photos from the day. Looks like Coach Wannstedt wore a tie this year. Pitt players attending were Darrelle Revis, Tyler Palko and Steve Buches. Or at least they were the ones in the photo. I’m stunned if H.B. Blades didn’t make the trip for anything other than personal reasons.

Looking at the full TV schedule for the Big East reveals something a bit surprising. The Louisville-Pitt game is not even included on the ESPN Regional/Big East game list. I mean, I expected no coverage of the Citadel tilt, and I’m not stunned that the Toledo game isn’t televised (though it could be a very good game). But L-ville-Pitt not on the air? That may change.

UPDATE: They seem to be adding more photos throughout the day.

Interesting.

Pitt actually edged Rutgers slightly for 3rd in pre-season expectations. I guess there’s only so much that even the coaches can believe about Rutgers improving.

I would actually consider moving USF to 6 or 7. They have lost 10 players already of their incoming recruiting class to academics or other reasons with eligibility.

In something of a telling glitch in the brief paragraph summaries for each team, Syracuse wasn’t boldfaced and “accidentally” just part of the paragraph with Cinci.

Looking for any story. Pitt WR Coach (and former Florida WR) Aubrey Hill gets a “where are they now” piece from the Gainesville paper.

Hill, 34, said he has head coaching aspirations, but is happy working through the ranks before taking over his own program.

“Obviously, that’s the ultimate goal,” Hill said. “But I want to go the way most go first, being a recruiting coordinator, an offensive coordinator and then becoming a head coach.

“Right now, I’m learning from the best (Wannstedt) about how NFL guys do it. He does an outstanding job getting the most out of his players.”

Hill said he doesn’t get back to Gainesville very much, but is the Panthers’ primary recruiter for Maryland, northern Virginia, Washington D.C. and where he grew up, south Florida.

Hill’s going to have some pressure on him to get players like Pestano and Turner to perform better and more consistently than they have shown even through spring drills.

The Big East has made its 2006 Football Media Guide available on-line (the sections are all in PDF). Well, except for the part that includes the pre-season poll. That will be released later today. The cover features Steve Slaton, WVU and Brian Brohm, L-ville on the cover. Which should be an oh so subtle hint as to who they think will be the top two teams in the conference.

Here’s the Pitt section (PDF). A bit of trying to puff the fact that the pass defense was one of the best in the country. Of course, how many teams are going to bother throwing when they could run you over at will?